Alfeed t



(No Model.)

A. T. ELPORD.

PAVING BLOCK.

m Wi 3 w m mHW w H Q m @NKTE STATES ALFRED T. ELFORD, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

PAVING- BLOCK.

PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,825, dated November 3, 1885.

Application filed November 29, 1884. Serial No. 149,164. (No model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED T. ELFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing in San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and useful PavingBlock, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in paving-blocks; and it consists in a certain device for securing a more permanent pavement adapted to all kinds of weather and furnishing superior advantages for laying telegraph wires or cables. It will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings and the letters marked thereon.

Figure l is an end elevation of my improved pavingbloek. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a pavement being laid with my improved paving-block.

The following is the construction of my improved pavingblocks: I generally cut the blocks A about four inches thick, eight inches wide, and ten inches long, of any suitable timber or wood. I bore the holes B from two to two and one-half inches in diameter, according to the nature of the timber employed. I

lay the blocks wet, and closely together, on

sand or any suitable bedding, such as is employed for other pavements. I then coat the top or upper surface with asphaltum and sand, or employ other suitable material, such as is already in use for coating wood to render it more durable and capable of resisting the ac tion of the weather. lVhen laid, it will be seen that the perforations B are in a direct line and form a continuous passage. These passages B form an excellent receptacle for telegraph wires or cables, allowing them to be laid along or across the street at any part, thus entirely avoiding the necessity of erecting telegraph-poles, which are very objectionable in the principal streets of cities. The common paving-block retains the moisture in the whole block,and when shrinking and swelling is often thrown up and out of place as the weather alternates from wet to dry.

I lay my pavement of wet blocks, and the lower end being shaded and in contact with the damp earth is kept about the same, while the top is allowed to season or dry as a free circulation of air is allowed through the per forations B. This insures durability as well as firmness. The water is immediately drained out through the perforations B, and no sand works up between the blocks,as it doesin the common pavement. In the common pavement the top is generally wet by the rain and swells before the bottom, throwing it up in ridges and humps, as is often seen in the wooden-paved streets. My block, being kept dry, is never liable to be effected in such a way. The perforation D, which passes down the center of each block from the perforation B, entirely drains the same.

For the purpose of laying telegraph-wires where the street is not so paved, the sidewalk can be paved with the same kind of blocks and the wires run along through the same. I do not confine myself to the exact size or form, as this may be varied to suit the requirements of thelocation or thekind oflumber employed in the manufacture; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In street-paving blocks, the block A, having the perforations B, with or without the perforations D, constructed and operated substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

ALFRED T. ELFORD.

\Vitnesses:

JOHN H. REDsToNE, L. E. REDsToNE. 

